ELENA

The European Legal Network on Asylum (ELENA) is a forum of legal practitioners promoting the highest human rights standards for the treatment of refugees, asylum seekers and other persons in need of international protection in their daily individual counselling and advocacy work.

The ELENA network established in 1985 now extends across 38 European states and involves some 500 lawyers and legal counsellors. It is coordinated by the Secretariat of the European Council on Refugees and Exiles (ECRE) in Brussels in close consultation with the ELENA National Coordinators. National Co-ordinators of the network include legal practitioners, legal academics and legal officers in ECRE member organisations.

National Co-ordinators of the network include legal practitioners, legal academics and legal officers in ECRE member organisations.

Our objectives:

Provide and reinforce contact between legal practitioners in different European countries to promote cooperation on individual cases and practice;

study the implementation of national, European and international law relating to refugees;

organise seminars on specific topics relating to refugee law and make the results available to practising lawyers;

promote the development of national networks of legal practitioners specialising in asylum law.

ECRE has been running specialist and introductory refugee law courses for twenty five years. The topics of the courses are selected by the annual meeting of ELENA coordinators in response to needs identified by practitioners. The courses are aimed at legal counsellors and lawyers from across Europe who defend or who are interested in defending cases concerning refugees and asylum seekers.

ELENA Courses have received the cooperation of leading academics and practitioners such as Prof. Hathaway, Prof. Goodwin-Gill, Prof. Elspeth Guild and Nuala Mole.